LG KF510

It is quite obvious that sleek looks and youthful appeal are very high on the LG list of priorities recently. Just as we gave you the flamboyant LG KF600, LG KF510 makes us wonder how much sweeter Chocolate can get. Undoubtedly of the same bloodline, the two handsets take a different approach to full touch navigation with InteractPad and Touch Lighting. The rest of the ammo is basically the same. The really sleek metallic finish and bigger 2.2" display (no InteractPad to shrink the screen) are the LG KF510 major assets. The ultra slim slider has the looks and handling to get us exited, so let's get rolling.




Key features:

-Great design and slim body
-Touchpad navigation
-2.2" 262K-color TFT display of QVGA resolution
-3 megapixel camera with autofocus
-microSD card slot with hot-swap
-USB v2.0 and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
-FM radio
-Good web browser



Main disadvantages:

-No 3G support
-Tri-band only
-Poor file management
-Video recording maxes out at QVGA resolution
-Inadequate display legibility in direct sunlight




Final words

Recommending or not the LG KF510 is a tough call. Provided especially that the handset hasn't yet officially hit the shelves and its retail price is still unknown.

What's beyond any doubt though is that LG KF510 is a very sleek and fun to use phone. It does have a few flaws in the user interface, some of which aren't that minor either (read file management). It still is a nice step forward for LG in terms of user-friendliness. Not the least, the build quality is great and the phone does feel great to hold.

Samsung i550/i550w

Fascinating as they are, ultra high-end handsets are not everybody's cup of tea. In fact, the good old mid-range is the bread and butter for every successful mobile phone company, for that's what gets those sales numbers right. As we see it, Samsung i550 might just be the phone to perfectly fit this description. It doesn't yell expensive out loud, but has great all-round functionality and might just become tomorrow's classic.



Key features:

-2.6" 262K-color TFT display of QVGA resolution
-3G with HSDPA
-Trackball navigation
-Built-in GPS receiver
-Symbian OS with S60 user interface
-Wi-Fi (Samsung i550w only)
-3 megapixel camera with auto focus
-MicroSD card slot
-3.5mm stereo audio jack
-FM radio
-Decent battery life
-Bluetooth with A2DP support



Main disadvantages:

-Tri-band GSM support only
-Trackball is somewhat slow
-No two-step shutter key
-No Wi-Fi (Samsung i550)
-A bit too conservative looks
-Video recoding limited to QVGA resolution
-Awkward soft key layout
-No RDS




Final words

Samsung i550 is a very capable device by all means. It blends a great bunch of features with the power of Symbian and the S60 user interface. The combination works out quite well and the result is a phone of great potential.

Samsung F480

To pick up where we left, prepare to meet the next bestseller by Samsung. If you think Samsung F480 is not up to such a challenge you might want to think again. The compact touch-operated handset has every chance of becoming the next best thing since sliced bread. It is extremely pocket-friendly but its own pocket is bulging - so to say - the little fella has it all. Plus, the looks are fantastic, so only one important question remains - is the performance on par with the marvelous specs. Luckily we are just about to answer that question, so sit back and enjoy.




Key features

-Ample 2.8" 262K touchscreen color display of QVGA resolution
-Touch-operated flash UI
-5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash
-Camera comes with face detection and wide dynamic range
-3G with HSDPA
-Great design and high quality construction
-228MB of internal memory
-microSD card slot
-Widgets
-Excellent haptics
-FM radio with RDS
-Great camera interface
-EDGE, Bluetooth and USB connectivity
-Great web browser



Main disadvantages

-Tri-band only
-Display legibility suffers under direct sunlight
-No landscape mode and no virtual QWERTY keyboard
-Fingerprint magnet
-Inadequate flash for the camera
-Video recording capabilities max out at QVGA resolution




Final words

It's not too often that we are so impressed with a handset as we are with Samsung F480. The little fella is an extremely capable device carrying a serious feature pack. In addition, it is so suave and compact that it is bound to earn itself quite a lot of fans. User-friendliness is also among its definite strong points. Some users might miss the Armani logo for the frill of it but we for one won't really grieve over it.

Samsung F480 is expected to hit the shelves on May 19th and - take our word - you might just want to wait until then before you fork out the cash on your next handset.

Samsung F110 Adidas

Samsung F110 is not revolutionary. And no, it's not a high-end gadget either. But it's part of a unique workout system developed by Adidas. The Adidas miCoach system makes your phone a full-fledged workout sidekick recording each of your steps and guiding you along your sports endeavors while playing your favorite music to make sweating a bit more pleasant.




Key features:

-Dedicated sports features:
-On-board miCoach application measuring sports progress and giving voice feedback
-Synchronization with miCoach web-based coaching system
-Built-in accelerometer with step counter
-Stride sensor and heart rate sensor in the extended package
-Comes with sports headset, 3.5mm audio jack remote and an armband
-2 megapixel camera
-1GB of onboard storage
-FM radio
-Stereo Bluetooth
-Works without a SIM card inserted




Main disadvantages:

-Boring design
-Camera has no autofocus
-Poor display resolution and poor sunlight legibility
-Built-in step counter is really inaccurate
-No memory card slot
-No 3G
-No office documents viewer



Final words

When compared to the existing digital sports systems such as the Nike+, the Adidas miCoach phone has a number of strong points - the heart-rate monitor, the free choice of running shoes, the mobile phone functionality, the "double-tap-to-get-stats" feature, and the FM radio. However, the iPod nano used by Nike has larger storage space, higher resolution display, better sunlight legibility and it's more compact.

Successful or not, the Samsung F110 Adidas phone will remain a niche phone and you are unlikely to see much of it on phone-shop windows.

Samsung i620

We have seen lots of phones from Samsung with slider form factor but this time it's a full hardware keyboard that is revealed when you slide the Samsung i620 out - the new mid-range smartphone running on the Windows Mobile 6 Standard edition. Packed with some exclusive features - a rotating D-pad wheel and sensor keys all over, you might as well be blown away by the one-off snowy white color too. So, it's compact, it's QWERTY, it's smartphone - yes this is really an offer you can't resist to play with - and neither do we. So grab yourselves something to drink and join us on this Samsung i620 review.




Key Features

-Windows Mobile smartphone
-Novel design and unusual form factor
-Compact dimensions
-2.2" TFT display
-Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA, 1.8 Mbps
-Rotating wheel and sensor front panel keys
-Full hardware QWERTY keyboard with sufficient backlight
-Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
-2 megapixel camera
-microSD card slot




Main disadvantages

-Landscape orientation is not common for applications
-No Wi-Fi
-No autofocus, mediocre camera performance
-TI OMAP 200 MHz processor struggles at times
-QWERTY keyboard has little tactile feedback
-Only 34MB storage memory available to the user




Conclusion

Samsung i620 is a stylish (to some!), neat and relatively compact slider phone, plus it runs on Windows Mobile 6 Standard. The full QWERTY hardware keyboard brings even more functionality to the smartphone. The sensor keys and the useful D-pad wheel help a lot when dealing with the address book, the menus and especially with the gallery images.

In the end - it all boils down to this: the Samsung i620 doesn't offer high-end features but offers excellent implementation of the features that are currently on-board. As such it will have a really hard time coping with Symbian bullies out there.

Sony Ericsson W760

Sony Ericsson W760 made a name for being the first Sony Ericson phone to offer an integrated GPS receiver. With a large QVGA display, stereo speakers, Media Center and the 3 megapixel camera on top, the W760 packs a nice punch. It's an exciting slider that may look no-thrills on the outside, but has all the prospects of becoming a bestseller.



Key features

-Quad-band GSM support
-Tri-band HSDPA
-Built-in GPS receiver
-3 megapixel camera with geotagging
-Walkman player with Shake control and SensMe
-Media center
-Stereo speakers
-FM radio with RDS
-YouTube integration
-2.2" QVGA TFT display
-M2 memory card slot (1GB card included)
-Stereo Bluetooth
-Built-in motion sensor




Main disadvantages

-No video-call camera
-Camera has basic portrait interface and no autofocus
-Poor legibility under direct sunlight
-Integrated stereo speakers are not impressive neither in sound qiality, nor in loudness




Final words

Sony Ericsson W760 is a nice attempt at creating an all-purpose slider. It's got all the goodies many users are waiting for.

Although in dense urban environments our beta unit had a weakish GPS sensitivity, the amount of GPS applications is commendable - especially for a first try from Sony Ericsson.